VIENNA AGENTIC INCIDENTS DATABASE
// public database of incidents involving autonomous AI agents, scored on the VAID scale 0–8

database / VAID-2025-0021

2
INCIDENT
Incident

Gemini CLI user reports missing files after a failed folder move

REF VAID-2025-0021 STATUS DISPUTED
UNA Unauthorised action
occurred
2025-07 (day unknown)
reported
2025-07-21
location
—
domain
software engineering
agent system
Gemini CLI 0.1.13 using gemini-2.5-pro, Windows, no sandbox according to issue details
reporter
VAIDDB editorial
origin
editorial
source
https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/issues/4586

== SUMMARY ==

A user reported that files could no longer be found after Gemini CLI attempted to organise a directory. The public thread contains the user's continued assertion of loss and objections to the widely circulated explanation of how it happened.

== DESCRIPTION ==

Evidence

Issue author anuraag2601 supplied a conversation transcript. In a 28 July comment, they said the files were nowhere on the system and could not be recovered or found.

A different commenter challenged the claim that Windows move commands successively overwrote files when the destination did not exist, saying the shown operations should fail and that truncated commands prevented a conclusive reconstruction. That commenter was not identified as a vendor spokesperson.

Limits and disposition

The user report must not be converted into a confirmed forensic finding of irreversible destruction. The issue is currently marked closed as not planned with stale/need-retesting labels; that does not demonstrate a fix or an investigation validating the alleged mechanism.

VAID assessment

Assessment date: 2026-09-09. Consequences-first rubric.

L2 (provisional): The user's report of missing local files supports limited reported harm beyond a merely unsuccessful command. The mechanism is contested, and the record does not establish the files' value, scale of loss or irreversible destruction through forensic evidence. This is the lowest level supported by the reported consequences, not an upper bound; severe permanent loss warranting L4 is not established, and recovery is not assumed.

== REFERENCES ==

  1. other Reporter's follow-up asserting the files remained missing — 28 July 2025., 2025-07-28
  2. other Challenge to the proposed mechanism — 27 July 2025., 2025-07-27
  3. other Gemini CLI lost files during a failed file move operation, issue 4586 — GitHub issue, 2025-07-21

== INVESTIGATION ==

no investigation recorded.

== VAID LEVEL 2: INCIDENT ==

Limited adverse effects on a task, user or service.

  • Small financial loss, erroneous service outputs, bounded unwanted communications or a limited personal reputational attack.
  • Local operational or resource disruption without established substantial outage or severe lasting damage.
  • Recovery, data sensitivity and downstream losses must not be assumed when sources leave them unknown.

> full scale definition